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For many women , nipples are erogenous zones . A new study may explain why : The whiz from the nipples trip to the same part of the brain as sense datum from the vagina , clitoris and cervix .
The cogitation , published online July 28 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine , is the first to map out the distaff genital organ onto the receptive destiny of the learning ability . Using functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI ) , investigator noted which brain areas become active when womanhood bear on various parts of their soundbox . Thegenital - sense head areasin women roughly match to the same areas in military personnel , but the nipple finding was a surprise , said subject field investigator Barry Komisaruk , a psychologist at Rutgers University .
A new study, published July 28 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, maps the spots in the brain that activate when the genitals are touched.
" My meditation is that this could be the basis for many women saying that nipple stimulation is erotogenic , because it stimulates the same area as the genitals , " Komisaruk tell LiveScience .
aphrodisiacal stimulus
Four major nerve bring signals from women ’s genital organ to their brains , Komisaruk said . The pudendal cheek connects the clitoris , the pelvic spunk bear signal from the vagina , the hypogastric face connect with the cervix and uterus , and thevagus nervetravels from the uterine cervix and uterus without passing through the spinal electric cord ( making it possible for some women to achieveorgasmeven though they have had accomplished spinal electric cord trauma ) .
Researchers at Rutgers University have mapped the brain areas in women that respond to stimulation of the genitals. The top of the image shows how the clitoris, cervix and vagina send nerve impulses to the same area in the medial paracentral lobule of the brain. This spot sits at the top of the head in the crevice between the two halves of the brain. Although the nipples are nowhere near the genitals, touching them lights up the same part of the brain as touching the genitals. That might be why many women find nipple stimulation erotic, researchers reported July 28 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
experimenter had map the male genital sentiency onto an area of the encephalon called the median paracentral lobule , which sits in the fissure between the two brain hemispheres . ( If you conceive of wearing earmuff , the median paracentral lobule would be on the top of your head , in good order under the band of the earmuff . ) What was miss , Komisaruk sound out , was a study tracing those four nerves to where in the brain they send their signal . [ ReadInside the Brain : A Journey Through Time ]
For their study the researchers recruited 11 healthy , non - pregnant women ages 23 to 56 . While inside the brainpower scanner , each woman stimulated her clitoris , vagina , cervix and nipple by tapping rhythmically with a fingerbreadth or , in the case of the vagina and cervix uteri , using a plastic dildo .
Nipple closed book
The result psyche images showed a nexus of activation in the medial paracentral lobule , just as in men . Each region of the genital organ designate up in its own point within this brain region , Komisaruk say . [ See the mind images ]
" Even though they ’re all clustered there like a cluster of grapes , the reply to each [ venereal area ] is unlike , " he say . " They overlap , but they ’re separable . "
Nipple stimulation showed up in the orbit of the brain that receives chest esthesis , but it also popped up alongside the venereal mavin in the median paracentral lobule , the research worker found . There could be two reasons for this , Komisaruk said . One is indirect : excite the nipples , as in breast - feeding , releases thehormone Pitocin . This endocrine , which is also released during labor , triggers uterus contraction . So it ’s possible , Komisaruk said , that nipple stimulation spark uterine contractions , which then grow a sensation in the genital area of the brain .
However , preliminary datum paint a picture that nipple nerves may straight off colligate up with the head , skipping the uterine middleman . A few men who have been studied show the same pattern of nipple input spark off genital brain regions , Komisaruk said . One of his graduate pupil is further testing the idea by consider the response of women who have had a hysterectomy , have in mind their uterus has been murder .
The erotic brain
The adult female in the study ( each of whom was paid $ 100 to take part ) were not necessarily turned on by the ego - stimulation in the fMRI scanner ; even so , using a like setup in an earlier bailiwick , Komisaruk and his colleagues were the first to locate the female sexual climax in the mind .
That leave the question of what make a sensation erotic , Komisaruk said .
" Are there particular genius regions that have to be trigger in edict for genital stimulation to be convert fromrun - of - the - mill stimulationversus stimulation with an titillating quality ? " he said . " That is the big doubt . "
For the record , while amativeness is a closed book , Komisaruk and his lab team observe that an climax involves a form of brain regions , including the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus ; amygdala ; accumbens - bed nucleus of the stria terminalis - preoptic area ; hippocampus ; basal ganglion ; cerebellum ; the anterior cingulate , parochial , parietal and frontal cortices ; and the lower brain stem . [ 10 Things Every Man Should love About a Woman ’s Brain ]
Komisaruk hopes his enquiry will aid mass who ca n’t hit climax . More broadly speaking , he wants to find out if people can learn to control their brain bodily process directly , much as we take for give our ability to move our fingers and toes .
" If we can control a part of the brain that bring about pleasurable sensation , what would that do in the font of , say , depression or anxiousness or addiction or obesity ? " Komisaruk say . " We really do n’t know what the limits are as far as what we can make our brains do . "
